Disks for Data Centers

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Abstract

Disks form the central element of Cloud-based storage, whose demand far outpaces
the considerable rate of innovation in disks. Exponential growth in demand, already
in progress for 15+ years, implies that most future disks will be in data centers
and thus part of a large collection of disks. We describe the “collection view” of
disks and how it and the focus on tail latency, driven by live services, place new
and different requirements on disks. Beyond defining key metrics for data-center
disks, we explore a range of new physical design options and changes to firmware
that could improve these metrics.

We hope this is the beginning of a new era of “data center” disks and a new broad
and open discussion about how to evolve disks for data centers. The ideas
presented here provide some guidance and some options, but we believe the best
solutions will come from the combined efforts of industry, academia and other
large customers.